I really like several of the civilian paint jobs that were frequent in the 60's & 70's. Some of those are (in no particular order) Don Whittingtons N5483V around 1980-82, Dave Norland's maroon and gold #76 N5466V, John Wright's #20 N51JW, and Jack Kistlers #99 N51JK: There are several others, but these are the ones that come to mind at 05:30 a.m while watching Mot?rhead on TV. I have to admit that seeing another blue nosed, red nosed, or red/yellow checkerboard nosed 51 doesn't fire me up as it did back in 85, when Air Classics showed a photo of N167F at Madera with the note that it was on its way to Norway. Had anyone told me back then that I would be a little bored especially with 8th AF colors I would have laughed at the person. Some military schemes I do like are: N51AB "Flying Dutchman", N51HT "Death Rattler", N51MR "Minuteman", N151DP "Cottonmouth", OFMC's G-HAEC in the grey camouflage from the mid-80's, and Johnny Rutherfords N6320T (red tail) around 79-80! I remember stopping by George Perez hangar to see N51GP back in 1993 , and I told him I liked the colors on the plane. He then looked at me and said dryly; well, you're about the only one who has said that in the last 20 years!!! Imagine my joy when I arrived in Reno 1993 to see Mickey Rupp's 51 painted as "Samurai"!

My favorites are civvies too! Mantz's NX1202 and NX1204 are my 1st choice. In a D, I like Chuck Lyford's all white Bardall Special (early)!

I'm a little tired of the glistening suedo WWII tributes. How about a real down and dirty WWII era "restoration"? You know something a WWII vet would really identify with. Someone will finally do it someday (as opposed to telling us about it) and start a whole new trend!

I certainly agree that the civil paint schemes were something special, as I loved N51JK and both of the Bardahls in all of their many looks. The Red Baron was a winner as is Strega and Dago. That said, original schemes, done right look fantastic.

The best is "Upupa Epops", and I hope that someday the photos of its air to air can be seen. This is a restored beauty however and while perfect has a lot of competition from the TFC "Twilight Tear". The skin is a "pewter" finish that looks marvelous when parked on the grass at Duxford. Its very difficult to pick another when even the grass the plane is sitting on is "right".